Keith-Flu
by itsgonnabemay5
Summary: Keith has the flu and Lance takes care of him.


Keith-Flu

Keith awoke to a painful pounding in his head. The room was lit up, and Lance was nowhere to be seen. How long had he been sleeping? As he rose out of bed, the room began to sway. He sat back down to clear his head and tried again.

His body was heavy and weak. He grabbed a throw blanket from the foot of the bed and found Lance in the living room sitting on the couch with a plate of scrambled eggs and toast with the TV on low volume.

"Morning, Keith," Lance said with his mouth full. "I was wondering when you were gonna get up."

Keith coughed in response and threw the blanket over his shoulders. "I don't feel good."

Lance raised an eyebrow and gave him a once-over. His face appeared pale and despite him sleeping for two hours later than usual, he looked pretty tired. "What's wrong?"

"I just don't feel right," Keith said, sitting down next to his boyfriend.

"Let me see," Lance said, and put his hand against Keith's forehead.

"You're a little warm. Do you feel feverish?"

Keith nodded and coughed to the side. Then he dug out a Kleenex from his pajama bottoms and wiped his runny nose.

"Oh, boy. Hope it's not something bad. Want any breakfast?" Lance asked, holding out his plate of food for Keith to see.

Keith shook his head. "Not hungry."

This was disturbing to Lance since Keith was a huge breakfast eater. His mornings usually started off with a bowl of oatmeal, a bowl of cold cereal, and some peanut butter toast. Keith got up and headed toward the kitchen, clutching the blanket closely around himself.

He stopped mid-step to let out a few sneezes, bending over as he endured each one. Now sniffly and congested, he looked through the pill bottles in the cupboard.

"What are you looking for?" Lance called out to him.

"Tylenol," Keith responded, wiping his nose with his hand.

"What's bothering you?"

"My head and throat hurt." Once he found the pills, he popped a couple in his mouth and swallowed them down with a glass of cold water.

Lance joined him in the kitchen to put away his dirty plate. "You look tired. Wanna go back to bed?"

"No. I just came from bed." He pointed to the couch and laid down to rest. Lance joined him. "You don't have to watch me sleep. I'll be okay."

"I'm not," Lance said. "I wanna finish this show."

Keith shrugged and used this opportunity to allow Lance's thighs to be his pillow. Once he was snuggled up against Lance, he let sleep overcome him. He was only half asleep, as his feverish state had him between in and out of consciousness. His head shook a few times from Lance's laughs as he watched the TV, but Keith was too sick to care.

As the morning dragged on, Keith felt worse. His eyes flew open when he felt an urge to vomit. He moved off of Lance and ran to the bathroom, where he vomited everything he had eaten last night. As he hovered over the toilet, Lance's voice called out to him from behind the bathroom door.

"You okay, Keith?"

Keith groaned but didn't respond. A moment later, he retched again, his stomach muscles contracting violently. When he felt sure he was done, he washed himself up and rejoined Lance on the couch. Lance immediately took his face in with his hands, feeling for a fever.

"I think we should take your temperature. You're burning up." Lance grabbed a thermometer from the bathroom and handed it over to Keith, who put it in his mouth.

After a minute, it beeped with the results. "It's 101."

Keith coughed and cleared his throat. His eyes were droopy and his cheeks bright pink.

"Come on, baby. Come lie down, but don't put that blanket on again. You need to cool off," Lance said gently. He pulled Keith's body towards him on the couch so Keith's head was against his chest and Lance put his arm around him.

"I don't feel good," Keith muttered quietly, his voice muffled through Lance's shirt.

"I know. You're gonna be okay," Lance reassured him, running his fingers through Keith's damp bangs as he cradled him in his arms.

Keith coughed again and again, and each time it hurt his already raw, sore throat.

"We're gonna have to find you some cough drops I think. Want some tea?"

Keith moaned but then nodded. "But do you have to get up?"

Lance smiled. "It's kinda the only way. . ." Lance slid out from under Keith, and Keith was already missing his soft, warm body from under him. As Lance made his tea, another bout of nausea crept into his stomach, and Keith found himself in the bathroom throwing up for another several minutes.

The rest of the day seemed to go on just like this. After every episode of vomiting, Lance was always there to comfort him when it was over. The next day, he vomited slightly less, but the coughing and sneezing remained.

He had woken up that morning with the worst pain in his torso and sides, much like it feels after a hardcore upper body workout session. The coughing and retching had left his body stiff and sore.

He was standing there in the living room on his way back from the bathroom when he started to cough. Pain seized his midsection and he couldn't help but wince.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Lance asked. "You okay?"

"My abs are really sore from throwing up," Keith said, heading back to the couch to snuggle with Lance again.

Lance frowned as he held him close to his chest and brought the blanket over him. Keith was very tired and fell asleep again straightaway. Lance kept the TV on as a way to entertain himself while he had nothing else to do. He was watching a movie when Keith sneezed harshly and Lance glanced down at him, only to find him wincing in pain and clutching his stomach as he sneezed again and again.

It made Lance sad to see Keith is this much pain, as he was obviously immensely sore from all that his chest and stomach had been put through. He had an idea. When Keith began to stir again, he carefully untangled himself from Keith and dug out the heating pad. After finding it under the couch from the last time Lance had used it to help with his sore muscles, he plugged it into the nearest outlet.

As Keith became more aware that Lance was gone and started to wake up, Lance quickly sat back down and put Keith back on his lap, but this time, placed the warm heating pad over Keith's stomach and held it in place.

"Shh, go back to sleep. This will help your muscles," Lance said softly. He felt Keith relax and he fell into another deep sleep.

Lance brushed back Keith's bangs and ran his fingers through his hair. Outside, it began to rain. Before he knew it, Lance had fallen asleep, too.


End file.
